Leaders Eulogise Gowon at 70
Say he's father of modern Nigeria
From Chuks Okocha in Abuja
It was perhaps the finest hour for former military leader, General Yakubu Gowon when his former comrade in arms, among them former Heads of State, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, General Abdulsalami Abubakar and former Defence minister, Lt.-General Theophilus Danjuma yesterday showered encomiums on him as he marked his 70th birthday.
Also, former Head of Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan, and Vice President Atiku Abubakar joined others in celebrating Gowon at 70.
Various speakers described Gowon at the special birthday round table discussion with the theme 'The Challenges of National Integration in Nigeria,' as the father of modern Nigeria.
The leaders traced Gowon's historic role as Head of State when the nation was engaged in a 30-month fratricidal war and his major preoccupation to "keep Nigeria one and united at all cost."
Shonekan, who was chairman of the occasion in his eulogy said, "Gowon has a dream of a united Nigeria and he ensured that the nation remained united during the trial time of between 1967 and 1970. Nigeria's unity was threatened, but Gowon never wavered to the unity of Nigeria."
Shonekan described Gowon as a special gift to Nigeria, adding, "Gowon is a great man... a man with a sense of mission."
Buhari recounted his first encounter with Gowon in Zaire as a second lieutenant in the Army, when Gowon was already a major.
He recalled how Gowon wrote him in 1984 when he was the Head of State soliciting for funds to pay the school fees of his son, Ibrahim.
According to Buhari, "Gowon was not a corrupt officer, because if he was, he would not be soliciting for money to pay the school fees of his son. This was a Head of State who ruled Nigeria for nine years."
Abdulsalami described Gowon as "a shining example to all of us." He said he owed his military career to Gowon who as Head of State ensured that able-bodied men were recruited into the armed forces.
He also described Gowon as a Nigerian who worked tirelessly for the unity of Nigeria, even to the detriment of his life.
Gowon's close associates like Chief Sunday Awoniyi, Senator Ike Nwachukwu, Alhaji Maitama Sule, and Danjuma paid special tributes to him.
Awoniyi said "his regime was the watershed of what we can aspire to do in this country."
According to him, "Gowon was a good manager of men. He restored true federalism in Nigeria, formed the Federal Executive Council where men and women of integrity were recruited to serve the country. He had respect for his permanent secretaries. He built a good economy and ensured that the society was democratic and never sidelined anybody in the running of the affairs of the country.
Nwachukwu said that Gowon was a "reluctant warrior, the only Nigerian that deserves to be honoured."
Nwachukwu, who said that Gowon was not blood thirsty like most military officers, disclosed that he (Gowon) as the Head of State was aware of the coup that overthrew him, but did nothing to prevent bloodshed.
Maitama said that Gowon as a leader had the fear of God and respect for human dignity, values, which stood him in good stead.
"Gowon was a leader and not a ruler. He is a gentleman soldier, an honest man in all ramifications. He came to serve at a time Nigeria needed a leader. He has the fear of God and that was why he succeeded," he said.
Danjuma on his part said, "We are celebrating a colossus, man of destiny, a man with impeccable character, a patriot and a selfless leader. He is a man with high moral standing and background. A man of power without arrogance who left office a pauper."
He commended the post war policies of Gowon's administration saying it was what made it impossible for the emergence of guerrilla warfare after the war.
Senior citizens including Gen. Domkat Bali, Admiral Murtala Nyako, Brig-Gen. Mobolaji Johnson, M. T. Mbu, Philip Asiodu, Isawa Elaigwu, Solomon Asemota, Ali Mazrui, Arthur Mbanefo, Bolaji Akinyemi, Rev. Father Mathew Hassan Kukah, Hon. Ghali Na'Abba, Don Etiebet, Shonekan, Solomon Lar, Lateef Adegbite, Governor Adamu Mu'azu, and Abubakar Rimi among others attended the occasion.
Meanwhile, Atiku in a congratulatory letter, said one of Gowon's legacies was the continued survival of Nigeria as a single entity.
Atiku also noted that "but for your (Gowon) gentle mien and maturity in the midst of several upheavals, Nigeria would not have survived the political turmoil of the mid-1960s and the 30-month bloody civil war that followed."
He said, "the picture of a trim, handsome and gentle officer who at the young age of 32 assumed the leadership of our deeply divided country remains fixed in our collective memory."
The vice president in the letter which he personally signed and addressed to Gowon's Asokoro, Abuja residence, stated: "Historians have testified to your strong commitment to one Nigeria as well as your spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation. So, the continued survival of Nigeria as a single, one indivisible entity is one of your legacies in government.
"Under your leadership, the civil war ended on a note of "No victor, no vanquish" and both our brothers and sisters in the South-east as well as external observers have confirmed that the policy was not an empty slogan. The cause of reconciliation was pursued with the same vigour as victory on the battlefield."
|
